MovieChat Forums > Il castello dei morti vivi (1964) Discussion > The director's name is Warren Kiefer

The director's name is Warren Kiefer


I don't know how this point hasn't been made before, but the director of CASTLE OF THE LIVING DEAD is Warren Kiefer, not Lorenzo Sabatini, not Luciano Ricci, and certainly not Michael Reeves. According to some correspondence I enjoyed with Kiefer (namesake of and godfather to Donald Sutherland's boy) in the early 90s, Ricci's name was included on some European prints for quota purposes, as this was an international co-production and so required to feature an Italian name in those markets. Kiefer was surprised to learn that some parties had built up Reeves's role beyond the "unpaid gofer" he characterized him as, and as he was by the time I spoke with him a successful novelist years away from any involvement in film and so with little apparent interest in staking claims of his own, I'm inclined to believe him. The film itself is a neat little character study as much as a horror film, firmly grounded in and evocative of the commedia dell'arte form common to the era depicted. It's an accomplished film on a miniscule budget, and Kiefer deserves name recognition for his work.

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Warren Kiefer is credited. Lorenzo Sabatini and Warren Kiefer are the same person.

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Contrary to popular belief, this silly stinker has Sutherland in only two roles not 3 and Chris Lee smoked only Vansmeerens while on set.

Nothing is more beautiful than nothing.

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Warren Kiefer is an Anglicanized pseudonym for Lorenzo Sabatini. The practice of giving European talent American sounding names was quite common up until the 1980s. We Americans (where the films actually had a chance to make money) tend to look down our noses at foreigners with funny sounding names that aren't easy to spell, as if having an Italian name means you can't make a decent movie. Even today it continues, I know one idiot in particular who argues that Italian/Spanish spaghetti westerns aren't real westerns because they were made in Europe by "a bunch of foreigners". Needless to say I spend as little time as possible in this person's company, but whenever we cross paths we seem to end up arguing about it.

It was for douchebags like him that Lorenzo Sabatini was re-named Warren Kiefer in the titles.

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I repeat, the director's name is Warren Kiefer. It is his real name, the name on his novels and other screenplays, and the name by which he was known when we corresponded in the late 80s/early 90s. In addition, the practice of placing Anglicized names on Italian horror features was a result of Italian tastes as well, which dictated that only Brits and Americans could make good gothic pictures like the Hammer and Poe films so popular at the time.

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Duz he steal double for Art Linkletter?

Nothing is more beautiful than nothing.

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Apparently, imdb has corrected the misattribution.

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For an excellent and very detailed article about the late Mr. Kiefer, see: Offscreen, Vol. 15, Iss. 12 (December, 2011); available at: http://offscreen.com/view/warren_kiefer.

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